USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > The history of Melrose, County of Middlesex, Massachusetts > Part 13
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51 Capt. Sprague lived in Stoneham, on the borders of Spot Pond. Bucknam, letter July 10, 1899.
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HISTORY OF MELROSE.
Out of such surroundings and from such conditions arose a genera- tion not unlike the country which had given them birth and in which their early youth had been passed. . .. Much though there may have been of spiritual grace in these men and women of the seventeenth century, there was little of that outward grace which tempers the manners of men and beautifies, if it does not elevate, the lives which fall within the circle of its influence. Out of the hard and simple lives which they led perforce came a race of hard and simple men and women, who were almost without a sense of the beautiful. thinking little of those arts which had borne a rich fruitage in the land of their fathers. and who were as careless of the beautiful in nature as in art. Hardly within the pale of civilization could a people be found, even in the seventeenth century, so destitute of the æsthetic sense. In music. their knowledge was bounded by the few tunes which they painfully sung in a high and unnatural key in the dreary meeting houses, which matched the tunes they sung. Of painting and sculpture they knew comparatively nothing; and poetry of a range above the Bay Psalms or the Day of Doom, and philosophy. except it came within the narrow limits of a prescribed theology, were forbidden fruits. .
Yet there was much of promise in the strait and formal habits of life and thought of the fathers of New England. Underlying all was a sound and uncompromising enmity to injustice and wrong, and an unflinching devotion to the right. as they understood it ; and more than all, there was a sturdy assertion of the independence of the individual and, through, him, of the masses. There was an ever-present de- mocracy, latent sometimes and sometimes militant, but always ready to spring into life and action. They were not always law-abiding ; but it was a wicked or an unjust law which they resisted ; and their resist- ance was usually fortified by good and sufficient legal principals. . . .
Out of these qualities came all that has endured of the old Puritanic fabric which the fathers reared ; and. while mistakes and weaknesses of the past have disappeared one by one, these enduring qualities have remained with us as a people and are the corner-stones of a great nation.
Of similar characteristics were the settlers and early inhabitants of Malden : and while they may not have reached the higher limits of those qualities, they, happily, did not descend to the lower depths of ignorance and crime. They were the common people of a common New England settlement of the lesser kind-farmers, woodsmen, and craftsmen, who cleared their lands and built their humble homes, jealously guarding their privileges as well against ecclesiastical as against civil encroachments. . ... There were fields to clear, houses, roads, and mills to build, and above all. in God's Providence, the foundation of a nation to lay deep, though they in their weakness knew it not. happily building better than they knew.
131
OLD FAMILIES AND HOMESTEADS.
These were the conditions of the people of Malden during the period which intervened between their settlement and the war of the Indian Philip. Their work was that of subduing the forests and wild lands, and bringing them into forms fit for the uses of civilization. Then were laid out farms, whose boundary lines may still be traced, and roads, which from mere winding paths have become our principal streets.
Besides these families already spoken of, there were others, some of whose names have been mentioned, who became resi- dents of this territory at quite an early date; among them, Herring, Breeden, Wilkinson, Grover, and Dunnell; but most of them have disappeared, and no longer have representatives among our citizens. Nearly all of these lived in the south- easterly part of the Town, in the Long Pond district. At a later date, some before, some after, and some about the time of the Revolutionary War, came the Pratts, the Emersons, Edmunds, Larrabees, Boardmans, Hemenways, Tainters, Fullers, Coxes, Waites, Goulds, Eatons and a few others ; and the descendants of most of these families are still citizens of Melrose. Of some of them much might be said concerning their identification with the interests of the Town, while it was a part of Malden, and since its incorporation. Some served in the early wars; some in the Revolution; some held civic office; some were manufacturers; and some were peaceful farmers. Thomas Dunnell served in King Philip's War, being in garri- son at Groton. He lived on the old road to Reading. The cellar of his house remained in the land now occupied by the Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose, until filled by Charles Pratt many years ago.52 He was sexton of the Malden church for twenty-eight years, his first year being 1690. March 169?3, after the church bell had been transferred from its frame on the rock, where it had previously hung, thus giving the name to the near-by Bell Rock Cemetery, the following vote was passed:
Thomas dunnell Is chose to Ring ye bell and sweep and look after ye meting hous for this year : and the Town doth agree to give him Thirty five shillings by a Reate: ye said dunnell Is also to dig the graues.
He was re-elected, March 7, 1719/ 20, and appears no more. I sus- pect that he performed his duties until the next winter, and that Sandy
52 Corey, History of Malden, 355.
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HISTORY OF MELROSE.
Bank took to itself all that it could claim of the bellman and grave- digger.53
One of the earliest settlers in Malden was Capt. John Wayte (Waite) who married Mary, daughter of Joseph Hills. From him have descended the many citizens bearing that honored name. One of them, Ezra, lived on territory now Melrose, in what is known as the Ezra Waite House.
EZRA WAITE HOUSE.
This interesting old domicile, now owned by George H. Ireson, who has lived therein some sixty years, is situated on Swain's Pond Avenue, in the southeastern part of Melrose. No one knows just when it was built, but it is undoubtedly two centuries old. It has brick-lined walls, and the usual wooden cross-beams in the ceiling, found in all the oldest houses. On the opposite side of the road may be seen the remnants of an old milldam; this makes it evident that there were once two sawmills on the outlet of Swain's Pond, one of which, Grover's, has been before referred to.
EMERSON. William Emerson, although born in Reading, and living some years in Woburn, early came to North Mal- den. He married Mary Vinton, a sister of the three brothers, Thomas, Timothy and Ezra Vinton, heretofore spoken of.
53 Corey, History of Malden, 355.
133
OLD FAMILIES AND HOMESTEADS.
Mr. Emerson was in the Revolution, enlisting at the early age of eighteen; and the relation of his war experiences, to his children and grandchildren, afforded much entertain- ment.54 His first homestead "stood near the old well with a narrow cartway between the house and well," says one of his sons, the Rev. Warren Emerson, writing June 23, 1876:
The house was afterwards sold to Amos P. Lynde, and converted into a barn. In the above house my father kept a Public House for a number of years. The family moved into the new house on the
EMERSON TAVERN.
54 William Emerson, (then of Reading), was private in Capt. John Dix's Co., Col. McIntosh's regi- ment, Gen. Lovel's brigade ; en- listed Aug. 1, 1778; discharged Sept. 12, 1778 ; service I mo. 15 dys., travel included, at Rhode Island ; also, descriptive list of men raised to reinforce Continental Army for the term of 6 mos., agreeable to resolve of June 5, 1780, returned as received of Justin Ely, Commis- sioner, by Brig. Gen. John Glover, at Springfield, July II, 1780 ; age, 20 yrs .; stature, 5 ft. 7 in. ; com- plexion, ruddy ; engaged for town
of Reading; arrived at Sprinfield July 10, 1780; marched to camp July 11, 1780, under command of Ensign Bancroft; also, list of men raised for the 6 mos. service and returned by Brig. Gen. Paterson as having passed muster in a return dated Canip Totoway, Oct. 25, 1780 ; also, pay roll of 6 mios. men raised by the town of Reading for service in the Continental Army during 1780; marched July 5, 17So; dis- charged Dec. 12, 17So; service, 5 1110s., 19 dys. MMassachusetts Sol- diers and Sailors of the Revolution- ary War, Vol. v, p. 352.
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HISTORY OF MELROSE.
corner of Main and Emerson Streets, either the 6th or 7th of November, 1805, as you may find marked with chalk on a rafter in the garret in the east end of the house unless it has been rubbed out by some one. I think marked by myself.
In this old inn all of Mr. Emerson's children were born, excepting William, son of his first wife, who early went to Bangor, Maine, and Isaac, the oldest son by his second wife, who was born in Woburn. Another sister of these Vintons, Martha, married John Pratt, father of the late Charles Pratt, whose farm was on our present Lebanon Street, and which now forms part of the Wyoming Cemetery.
HEMENWAY. Francis Hemenway, whose farm was on the easterly side of East Street, corner of Porter, was born in Stoneham in 1797, but came to Melrose when he was a year old. In 1815, there occurred an Indian mock fight, in which Mr. Hemenway took part. Some six hundred Malden and Reading men, arrayed in war-paint and feathers, tomahawks and scalping-knives, were pitted against several military com- panies from Charlestown and other towns. The battle began on Reading Hill, north of Green Street, and ended at Joseph Boardman's, whose house stood where Masonic Hall now stands. After a hard and desperate struggle the red men were defeated. Mr. Hemenway represented an Indian squaw, and carried on his back for a papoose, the late Charles Porter, then a baby two years old. During Lafayette's visit in 1825, Mr. Hemenway joined the military company at Malden cen- tre, marched to Bunker Hill, to take part in the laying of the corner-stone of the monument, heard Daniel Webster's great oration, and shook hands with our friend and ally, the great Frenchman. The old homestead, with its well and well-sweep, has disappeared but the house still exists, having been moved to the upper end of Porter Street.
THE OLD BOARDMAN HOUSE. Although this house does not actually stand on Melrose territory, it is so near it, being just over the line in Saugus, its age, its history, and the lives of some of its former occupants, are so closely connected with our city, that it is appropriate to introduce a view of the venerable relic, with a short sketch of its history.
It is known, far and wide, as the Abijah Boardman House, and is situated on Howard Street. It is one of the oldest, if not the oldest house now standing on New England soil. It
135
OLD FAMILIES AND HOMESTEADS.
was built in 1635-6, by Samuel Bennett, who came to Saugus in the first of these years. He came over from England, at his own cost, in consequence of which he received a grant of fifty acres of land, locating it on this spot.
With the shrewdness which was characteristic among the first settlers. he selected for the site a moderate elevation just west of a running rivulet which came down from Castle Hill to water his "horned cattle," and to meet at the declivity south of the house another little stream that kept green and fertile his meadows.
The house is the best preserved specimen of the projecting upper story architecture to be found. It has the old fashioned huge chimney, fireplaces, and ovens, of the early colonial period; large beams cross its ceilings; hand-made, wrought
LFL
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ABIJAH BOARDMAN HOUSE.
iron nails were used; its cellar stairs are made of hewn logs instead of boards; and the walls were bricked between the upright timbers from top to bottom, thus making it warm and impervious to the storms of winter; and the old house is still strong and able to defy the tempests of yet other centuries. The projecting upper story, in this case eighteen inches wide, so often thought to be so built for a means of defence, simply followed familiar architectural designs for dwellings extant in the early part of the seventeenth century. The openings, through which to shoot, or pour hot water upon the heads of attacking Indians, exist only in imagination.
CHAPTER V.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
T HE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The first or- ganized religious society in Melrose (North Malden) was the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the winter of IS13, a committee consisting of Phineas Sprague, James Green, Jesse Upham and Cotton Sprague, requested the Rev. Timothy Merritt-then a member of the Massachusetts Legislature from Maine -to preach in the little district school-house. which was situated on the west side of the old road, now Lebanon Street, a short distance south of the present Upham Street. He accepted and continued for four Sabbaths, begin- ning February 4. A political sermon had been delivered in the Orthodox Church, at Malden Centre, which was opposed to the prevailing sentiment existing in North Malden, and consequently caused great dissatisfaction among its residents: and the call to Mr. Merritt was the result of an indignation meeting held in one of their barns.
In support of this movement the following petition was prepared and circulated previous to the commencement of these services:
MALDEN, Jany 15th 1813.
The undersigned, impressed with the necessity of attendance upon Public Worship, experiencing the disadvantages of residing at a distance from Meeting and believing that the interest of Piety & Morality would be promoted by Meeting in this vicinty for religious Worship do hereby severally agree to pay the Sums set against their respective Names for the Support of a Methodist Preacher to Preach Statedly at the Northern District School House.
Phineas Sprague, Jr .. 3.00
Josiah Fuller. 1.00
Joseph Howard, 3.00
Moses Rand. 1.00
Asa Upham, 2.00
James Howard, 1.00
Jesse Uphan, 1.50
James Green. Jr .. 1.00
Joseph Boardman. 3.00
Samuel Green, Jr., 2.00
Samuel Sprague. 1.00
Jonathan Barrett. 3.00
Peter Barrett. 1.00
Issac Vinton. 2.00
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
Benjamin Porter,
2.00
James L. Green, 1.00
Isaac Emerson,
1.00
Charles Fuller, 1.00
Edward Emerson,
1.00
Cotton Sprague, 3.00
Asa Hart,
1.00
Jonas Green.
5.00
Robert Gary,
1,00
Hermon Sturtevant, 1.00
Phineas Sprague,
1.50
Hanson Connor, 1.00
Total, $45.00
A few months later another petition was circulated for the same purpose, in order to continue the services:
MALDEN, Sept. 16th 1813.
We the Subscribers do severally agree to pay the sums set against our Names for the support of Methodist Preaching at the North District School House.
Jesse Upham, 2.00
Joseph Richardson, 1.00
Phineas Sprague,
1.50
Moses Rand, 1.00
William Emerson,
3.00
William Edmunds, 1.00
Jonathan Barrett,
3.00
Charles Fuller, .50
Cotton Sprague.
3.00
Phineas Green, 2.00
Phineas Sprague, Jr., 3.00
Benjamin Lynde. Jr., 1.00
Jesse Upham, Jr.,
3.00
Jonas Green, 2.00
Jonas Green, Jr.,
2.00
Joseph Fuller,
.50
Isaac Vinton,
2.00
Jonathan Boardman,
2.00
Samuel Green. Jr.,
2.00
Thomas Green,
2.00
Asa Upham,
2.00
Hanson Connor.
1.00
Isaac Emerson,
2.00
Joseph Lynde, Jr.,
2,00
Joseph Boardman,
2.00
Edward Emerson,
2.00
James Howard,
1.00
George Emerson,
1.00
Samuel Sprague.
1.00
Barse Sturtevant.
1.00
Amos Upham,
2.00
Joseph Howard.
2.50
Benjamin Porter,
2.00
Total,
$59.00
Mr. Merritt was succeeded by Rev. Epaphras Kilby, who also preached four Sabbaths. He was succeeded by Rev. Thomas C. Pierce, who remained six months. at a salary of $2 per Sabbath. The next preacher, Rev. Ephraim Wiley, remained three years, from 1814 to 1817, the same salary being voted: "half the amount of $2 a Sabbath be paid at the end of the first six months, and the remainder at the close of the year." A portion of this time he lived in two rooms of the house of Capt. Phineas Sprague, on Main Street, opposite Ell Pond, now occupied by Samuel H. Nowell.
138
HISTORY OF MELROSE.
Considering the salary received we are not surprised to learn that Mr. Wiley worked through the week at his trade, that of shoe-making, often with a book open before him studying to prepare for the next Sunday's services.1
During his term of service, in 1815, a revival took place, during which time, he was aided by the famous Father Taylor of Boston.
In consequence of continued interest and success, this same year a Church was organized; and in ISIS, while Rev. Orlando Hinds was pastor, a meeting-house was built at the junction of Main Street, with Green Street, then a portion of the old Reading Road. This edifice was thirty feet long by thirty-two feet wide. Its cost, land and all, was $1,500. The subscrip- tion paper circulated for this object was headed as follows:
Whereas, it is for the improvement and good of the public, as well as for the salvation and comfort of individuals, to support public worship and provide religious instruction, and as it is necessary for the comfort of those who meet for divine service to have suitable places to assemble in, the members and friends of the Methodist Society in North Malden are resolved to build in said town, a house for public worship on the following conditions:
These conditions were that the house was to be a neat, com- fortable one, with free seats, and to be in charge of certain trustees, according to the discipline of the Methodist Episco- pal Church. Mr. Hinds, who still received the same munifi- cent salary of $2 per Sabbath, headed the petition with the sum of $20. This was self-denial indeed! Others gave from SI to $40.
In 1819, Rev. Isaac Jennison became the pastor, during whose term of three years, a very stirring revival took place; services were held morning, noon and night for several weeks in succession.
In 1820, Rev. Ephraim Wiley again preached for a year, being sent this time by the Methodist Conference. Next in succession came Rev. Messrs. Leonard Frost, E. Steel, John Adams, Samuel Norris, Serene Fisk, Thomas F. Norris, and Aaron Josselyn.
About this time, 1827, certain members became dissatisfied with the form of government existing in the Methodist Epis- copal Church; trials and troubles began; and quite a number
1 Mrs. Frank J. Hunt in Melrose Journal, Nov. 3, ISSS.
139
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
of the members withdrew and formed the second religious society, the Protestant Methodist Church. This was in 1828. The end of this movement is given in the history of the First Baptist Church.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, under the successive pas- torates, then varying from one to two years in length, of Rev. Messrs. Geo. W. Fairbanks, LaRoy Sunderland, Ezra Sprague, R. D. Estabrook, Ebenezer Ireson, J. T. Burrill, S. Osgood Wright, Timothy Merritt, James Mudge, Ralph W. Allen, David Culver, Henry B. Skinner, C. Hayward and Walter Wilkie, continued to occupy their meeting-house until 1842, when, under the pastorate of Rev. William Rice, the building was enlarged, improved, and rededicated November 30, of that year. The first sexton was hired in 1837, at a salary of $10 per annum. Then followed in succession as pastors, Rev. Messrs. Daniel Richards, Henry M. Bridge, Nathaniel Bemis, John C. Ingalls, Francis A. Griswold, John M. Merrill, Mark Staples, William H. Hatch, James Shepard, William C. High and John W. Perkins. This enlarged house of worship con- tinued to be occupied until 1857, when it was sold to George F. Boardman, moved to near the corner of Main and Essex Streets, changed into "Concert Hall," and was destroyed by fire, November 30, 1875, with Boardman's Block, just thirty- three years from the day it was dedicated.
Mr. Perkins was stationed here in 1854. A new edifice being much needed for the growing Church, he succeeded in raising money sufficient to accomplish the object; a building com- mittee was appointed, but " the iron law of itineracy " removed Mr. Perkins, and the work was completed under the pastorate of his successor, Rev. Nathan D. George.
The edifice was completed and dedicated April 1, 1857, the Rev. E. O. Haven, D. D., preaching the dedication sermon. The land on which the church stands was given by Isaac Emerson, father of the late Isaac Emerson, Jr., and of George Emerson, Richard Watson Emerson and Mrs. John Massey, still with us. The clock in the audience room was the gift of Rev. Frederick Upham, D. D., a native and former resident of our town.
The first pastor settled in the new Meeting-house was Rev. J. Augustus Adams. He was followed in 1859 by Rev. H. V. Degen, and in 1860 by Abraham D. Merrill. Jeremiah L.
140
HISTORY OF MELROSE.
Hanaford was pastor, 1861-62; George Prentice, 1863-64; Henry Baker, 1865-67; Frank K. Stratton, 1868-69; M. Emory Wright, 1870-72; (length of pastorate now extended to three years, if desired, ) A. W. Mills, 1873-74; S. B. Sweetser, 1875- 76; Isaac H. Packard, 1877-79; William Butler, D. D., ISSO-82; John D. Pickles, 1883-85; Samuel Jackson, 1886-90; ( pastorate now five years if desired, ) Charles E. Davis, 1891-96; Joel M. Leonard, 1897-1900, and Charles H. Stackpole, 1901, and is the present pastor.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND PARSONAGE.
The church edifice was remodelled during the pastorate of Rev. S. B. Sweetzer, when the church parlor, choir gallery and a kitchen were added; and the re-opening services were held November 19, 1876. The present membership of the Church is as follows: Full members, 568; members on probation, 40; total, 608.
141
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
The fiftieth anniversary of the introduction of Methodism into the town, was celebrated in 1862, during the pastorate of the late Rev. Jeremiah L. Hanaford, long a resident and honored citizen of Melrose; sermon by Elder Aaron Sargent. The seventy-fifth anniversary of the formation of the Church was observed in 1888, Rev. Samuel Jackson, pastor. Bishop Randolph S. Foster, D. D., preached the anniversary sermon.
The first parsonage of this church, was the long-time resi- dence of one of its old members, Isaac Emerson, situated on Main street, on land adjoining the church lot. Mr. Emerson died April 18, 1861, aged 72 years. He was one of the first contributors to the enterprise in 1813, and was the first Town Treasurer, after Melrose was incorporated in 1850. A new and handsome parsonage was built on the site of the old one in 1890, which cost $5,700 above the land.
During the year 1897, it was found that the graceful steeple had become somewhat decayed and rendered unsafe; there- fore it was cut off down to the bell-tower, thus leaving it less pleasing to the eye than fomerly. As the church building was fast getting too small for the increasing membership and parish, a movement was begun this same year, looking toward the building of a new edifice, which was so generously and enthusiastically received, that undoubtedly, a larger and handsomer one will take the place of the old one in the near future, as a large sum is already pledged and on deposit for that purpose.
During the ministry of Rev. Samuel Jackson, 1886-90, several young men belonging to this Church, moved with a missionary spirit, began work in the somewhat retired district situated southwest of Swain's Pond, and east of Lebanon Street. Their labors were fruitful; religious services were held, a Sabbath School begun, and in IS91, a chapel was erected on Swain's Pond Avenue, and dedicated December 20, of that year, by Rev. J. H. Mansfield, D. D., Presiding Elder of the Lynn District.
The late Charles Pratt, in his will, left $10,000 to the Stewards of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Melrose, to be used for " Christian Missions." This was the amount his estate was to receive after his death, for the sale of his old farm homestead on Lebanon Street, to the Town of Melrose, for cemetery purposes; the town giving its note for the same,
142
HISTORY OF MELROSE.
and Mr. Pratt to receive the interest only during his remaining years. Out of this generous bequest, this Swain's Pond Chapel was built; and it is very appropriately named "The Pratt Memorial." A Sabbath School and religious services were sustained in this chapel by the Methodist Church for a num- ber of years, but it has now been leased by the Congregational Church of Maplewood, Rev. Charles S. Macfarland, pastor.
The Sabbath School of the parent Church, the oldest one in Melrose, was first organized in June, 1824, under the pastorate of Rev. Samuel Norris, who acted as superintendent. It numbered thirty members all told, and in August, a library was bought consisting of thirteen volumes, only one being a bound book. Among its superintendents, the late Fernando C. Taylor held that office for a period of twenty-five years. The present membership of the School, with officers and teach- ers, is 506, and Francis P. Luce is the present superintendent. It has a library of 600 volumes.
Still another Sabbath School is connected with the Metho- dist Church. This is known as the " East Side Mission." It is held, together with weekly religious exercises, in the old school-house, built in 1856, on Upham Street, near East Street. It has 167 members, and W. DeHaven Jones is the superin- tendent. This makes a total Sabbath School membership under the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of 960. Affiliated with the East Side Mission is the East Side Ladies' Aid Association.
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